‘Colonels’ may be on retreat

Press, 22 October 1980, Page 2

‘Colonels’ may be on retreat

PA Wellington • The chances of the socalled “Colonels” toppling the Prime Minister. (Mr Muldoon) at a Government caucus meeting tomorrow now appear remote.

As the crucial meeting draws closer, evidence of. Jhe support Mr Muldoon claims to have rallied is emerging. “Unle..s there is a planned campaign of deceit going on round here, the leadership crisis is over,” one Government member of Parliament told NZPA last evening. '

He asserted that some of the “Colonels” themselves were knocking on Mr Muldoon’s door to declare their allegiance.

“They are down to about four Or five now,” he said. The Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Talboys) will step into the leadership battle today and is expected to move rapidly to patch up the. rifts that have developed in the caucus over the last few weeks. > . He will arrive at Auckland early this morning and will leave for Wellington immediately after a 7.45 a.m. news conference at Auckland Airport. Mr Talboys has told his staff to keep his diary clear for the day. A delegation of National members of Parliament led by the Minister of State Services (Mr Thomson) called on Mr Muldoon yesterday morning and told him they backed his continued leadership of the National Party.

It is believed nine members, including the Minister of Agriculture (Mr MacIntyre) spent about 30 minutes with Mr Muldoon; who over the last six days had been marshalling- his supporters for the leadership battle which looms in tomorrow’s caucus meeting.

After yesterday morning’s meeting, Mr Muldoon said through his press secretary that the group had called to tell him of their support. They had also told him

that overwhelming support for him was being reflected in their electorates, according to the spokesman. Among the delegation which visited Mr Muldoon yesterday were some whom political pundits have speculated may have been in the anti-Muldoon camp .. last week. The delegation included the Minister of Energy (Mr Birch), his Under-Secre-tary (Mr Brill), Mr J. H. Falloon (Pahiatua), Mr P. C. East (Rotorua) Mr D. C. McKinnon. (Albany), Mr W. R. Austin (Awarua), and the Under-Secretary for Immigration (Mr Malcolm). One of the members who did not want to be named, said the delegation discussed the leadership issue and singled out the “weak points” : and the “hard points.” Reports after last week’s caucus meeting said support at that time favoured a change of leader but the issue was not put to a vote. Subsequently Mr Muldoon has claimed he has won over some of the dissenters and now is confident he will retain his post as Prime Minister and leader of the party. However, he said he does not expect the issue to be put to a vote in caucus. The National Party’s president, Mr G. A. Chapman, has repeated his call for a quick resolution of the leadership struggle, a struggle he describes as a "public bloodletting.” In an interview in Dunedin, Mr Chapman urged National parliamentarians to decide on the leadership by tomorrow.

Mr Chapman said New Zealand faced a “crisis of i confidence” in the Prime 1 Minister but the fact that he i was leader of the National 1 Party was purely co-in- < cidental. ; He said the response of 1 New Zealanders to the chai-, . lenges of the 1980 s was a 1 much more fundamental i problem for New Zealand i

than the present leadership crisis. Although Mr Muldoon maintains he has overwhelming grassroots support at the party level for his; leadership, not, all party: members support him andl some are saying so publicly. I In Auckland on Monday a; former National Cabinet. Minister, Mr W. J. Scott,, called for Mr Muldoon’s re-1 placement. The member of Parliament for Kaipara Mr P. I. Wilkin-1 son, has attacked members who have spoken put on the Muldoon leadership issue. Mr Wilkinson said that although he declined to comment publicly on the issue it did not mean he was sitting on the fence. “The correct course, in my view, is for members to sound out their electorates and keep their traps well and truly shut as far as opinions and inside information to the news media are concerned,” he said. “People such as Dail Jones (the Junior Government Whip) should have thought out more carefully the implications of their actions before rushing to the news media to discuss this matter in detail before the world,” he said. Only the National Party caucus could vote on the issue, and its proceedings were confidential, Mr Wilkinson said, but a section of the news media had never respected that confidentiality and somereporters had worked hard on individual members of Parliament to break confidences on “alj manner of issues.” - '

“Untold harm is done by caucus leaks, not the least being their harmful effect on caucus teamwork and mutual trust,” Mr Wilkinson said. ; • ; Mr Wilkinson is a halfbrother of the Minister of Justice (Mr McLay) who is believed to be one of those seeking; a change of leaderships■/